Bones Boss on That X-Files Dig in Finale: 'There Was Some Concern'

In Tuesday’s Bones finale, Booth — at the tail end of a moving pep talk he was giving to a demoralized Brennan — attempted to cheer his wife up further by assuring her, “We’re way better than Mulder and Scully.” That was no mere throwaway line. The crack bookended a moment in the show’s pilot 12 years ago when Booth gave the iconic X-Files duo a similar — albeit more effusive — shout-out, telling Brennan, “We’re Scully and Mulder.”

While longtime Bones fans no doubt relished the full-circle quip, not to mention Brennan’s continued cluelessness about all things X-Files, co-showrunner Michael Peterson concedes that they were a little spooked that some might view the Easter egg as a sleight against their small-screen forebearers. “It was in the script, out of the script, in the script, out of the script,” he tells TVLine of the moment. “And it was in the cut and out of the cut — multiple times. Because there was some concern. But at the end of the day we weren’t throwing shade. It was just a nod to the loyal fans who have been there since the pilot. [Series creator] Hart Hanson loves [X-Files boss] Chris Carter. We all love The X-Files. No shade intended.”

As Peterson notes, “We are a sensitive group of people. We wanted to make sure it didn’t come off [negatively]. We respect The X-Files so much — we didn’t want anyone to think we were [slamming them]. We carry a lot of the same fans. There are a huge number of people who are both X-Files fans and Bones fans.”

Well, let’s hear from those aforementioned fans of X and B. Did you love the line as much as we did? Weigh in below!